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Read other letters about this article
I agree with the prior letter writer's point. The problem in the west's perception of Arabs is that we see them all as animals sitting on top of oil that we need. Consequently, we bend over backwards to give them wide berth whenever they act atrociously because our expectations are already so low.
For instance, we have made no demands and we have made no protest when they have depicted Jews, Hindus, Christians or Buddhists in the most deplorable ways (see http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3360 for a good article with great links to other sources).
We have funneled money to them (Egypt gets the second-highest amount of US aid; Saudi Arabia is defended by US troops; Jordan receives millions in aid from the US; and the so-called Palestinian Authority gets hundreds of millions a year), but have not demanded anything in return for our largesse. Anti-American attitudes run rampant through text books and speeches in government moderated and funded forums in these same countries. They've killed Americans. They've caught and then released the perpetrators and we've done nothing about it.
They have the temerity to demand changes in our laws (see http://www.danielpipes.org/article/2989) to accommodate them but do not do the reverse in their own countries (Jews are not allowed in Saudi Arabia; Jews were tortured, persecuted, and expelled from Arab lands up to the 1950s; Christians are being forced out of Bethlehem).
The west seems to believe that by turning the other cheek and apologizing for exercising OUR RIGHTS in the face of Islamic anger we'll be able to move beyond the anger. The reality is that there is nothing you can say to people who still don't understand what went wrong when their civilization was eclipsed by ours and who deeply resent it.
I say to hell with them until our rights are respected equally.
JP
